Display

The Sony Xperia X brings a Bravia, Triluminos, X-Reality display (hey, the names match!), 5" big with 1080p resolution. Sony won the sharpness wars with its 4K Xperia Z5 Premium, so the Xperia X is free to go for quality instead of bragging rights of a QHD display.

All those brand names really stand for an IPS LCD built on the Quantum Dot technology. It generates colors in a different way than vanilla LCD's and you can tell - even if you're used to AMOLED, the saturated colors of this screen look spell-binding.

Despite their surreal appearance, Sony managed to keep color reproduction fairly accurate - the display scores an average deltaE of 4.0 - that's more than the best in this regard (the Galaxy S7 and iPhone 6s), but it's still better than quite a few devices (the Xperia Z5, LG G5, and Huawei P9). It's really the white balance that's off (it has a blueish tint), the rest of the color reproduction stays mostly under a deltaE of 6. The biggest deviation was 9.4.

There are sliders to adjust white balance, but you need to have a calibration tool as you really can't do much by eye.

Sony also worked to improve contrast and the Xperia X scores 1,200:1, better than the 1,000:1 the Z5 managed and the 800:1 of the Xperia M5. This was largely done by improving the black levels, which are still on the high side. Even so, in the dark, you can get the brightness as low as 4.9 nits, a boon for late-night notifications when a bright screen would blind you.

Display test

100% brightness

Black, cd/m2

White, cd/m2

Contrast ratio

Sony Xperia M5

0.63

527

839

Sony Xperia Z5

0.59

583

986

Sony Xperia X

0.44

539

1219

HTC One A9

-

366

∞

Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)

0.00

421

∞

Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016) max auto

0.00

601

∞

Huawei Honor 7

0.32

450

1398

Sony does image post-processing in its gallery. You can turn it off, switch to X-Reality mode or go all in with Super-vivid mode (delivering self-described "surreal" images).

These modes sharpen images, boost contrast and (in super-vivid mode) enhance colors. You can get a side-by-side comparison to help you make your choice too.

The sunlight legibility marks a small improvement over the Xperia Z5 and M5. It's on par with, say, LG G5, but behind some mid-range AMOLED-packing phones.

Sunlight contrast ratio

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge+4.615

Samsung Galaxy S7 edge4.439

Samsung Galaxy S74.376

HTC One A94.274

Samsung Galaxy A34.241

Samsung Galaxy S6 edge4.124

Samsung Galaxy Note54.09

Huawei Nexus 6P4.019

OnePlus X3.983

Oppo R7s3.964

Samsung Galaxy A7 (2016)3.918

Samsung Galaxy A53.895

Samsung Galaxy J7 outdoor3.879

Samsung Galaxy J2 outdoor3.873

Samsung Galaxy A83.859

Apple iPhone 63.838

Microsoft Lumia 950XL3.837

Samsung Galaxy A9 (2016)3.817

Motorola Moto X (2014)3.816

Samsung Galaxy A5 (2016)3.789

Apple iPhone 6s3.783

Meizu Pro 53.781

Microsoft Lumia 6503.772

Oppo F1 Plus3.709

Vivo X5Pro3.706

Apple iPhone SE3.681

Samsung Galaxy A73.679

Meizu PRO 63.659

BlackBerry Priv3.645

Apple iPhone 6s Plus3.53

Acer Jade Primo3.521

Microsoft Lumia 9503.512

Oppo R7 Plus3.499

Samsung Galaxy J73.422

Meizu MX53.416

Oppo R73.32

Samsung Galaxy J23.235

Motorola Moto X Play3.222

Huawei P93.195

Lenovo Vibe Shot3.113

Motorola Moto X Force3.105

LG Nexus 5X3.092

Huawei Mate S3.073

Microsoft Lumia 640 XL3.065

Apple iPhone 6 Plus3.023

Sony Xperia X2.989

Samsung Galaxy Note2.97

Huawei Mate 82.949

LG G52.905

HTC One S2.901

Sony Xperia Z52.876

Microsoft Lumia 5502.851

Sony Xperia Z5 compact2.784

LG V102.744

Xiaomi Redmi 32.735

Sony Xperia M52.69

Vivo V3Max2.659

Xiaomi Mi 4i2.641

Xiaomi Mi 4c2.574

Microsoft Lumia 6402.563

Oppo F12.528

Sony Xperia Z5 Premium2.525

Sony Xperia M4 Aqua2.503

Motorola Moto G2.477

Lenovo Vibe K5 Plus2.473

Huawei G82.471

Sony Xperia Z2.462

Huawei Honor 72.406

ZUK Z1 by Lenovo2.382

HTC 102.378

Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016)2.378

HTC One E9+2.305

Alcatel One Touch Hero2.272

Lenovo Vibe K4 Note2.254

Sony Xperia C5 Ultra2.253

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 (MediaTek)2.249

Sony Xperia C4 Dual2.235

Motorola Moto G (2014)2.233

LG Nexus 52.228

Huawei P82.196

Xiaomi Redmi Note 22.166

OnePlus Two2.165

HTC One X2.158

LG Aka2.145

Archos 50 Diamond2.134

Xiaomi Redmi Note2.119

Acer Liquid X22.084

Huawei P8lite2.078

Moto G 3rd gen max manual2.026

Sony Xperia E4g1.972

OnePlus One1.961

BlackBerry Leap1.892

Meizu m2 note1.892

HTC Butterfly1.873

ZTE Nubia Z9 mini1.759

Sony Xperia U1.758

Asus Zenfone Selfie1.68

Motorola Moto E (2nd Gen)1.675

ZTE Nubia Z91.659

Motorola Moto E1.545

Sony Xperia M1.473

Xiaomi Redmi 21.311

Sony Xperia C1.283

Meizu MX1.221

The Display settings have a few additional perks. You can enable double-tap to wake (off by default), Glove mode (for cold winters) and Smart backlight control (keeps the screen on while you hold the phone).

Connectivity

The Sony Xperia X comes in single- and dual-SIM versions, ours is of the single-SIM kind.

For mobile data, LTE Cat. 6 (300Mbps down, 50Mbps up) along with HSPA as a fallback (42.2Mbps/5.76Mbps). You also get dual-band Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac (the Xperia M5 lacked ac), Bluetooth 4.2 with aptX and Low Energy, NFC and FM Radio with RDS (we know it's important to some people).

The Wi-Fi connection can be used for screen casting - either via Miracast or Google Cast. This goes great if you connect a DualShock controller, the Xperia X becomes a portable console. For cars, MirrorLink can connect to your head unit.

The microUSB 2.0 port (yep, no Type-C action from Sony in the foreseeable future) lets you charge the phone as well as hook up USB storage and accessories. MHL is not supported, there's no wired way to connect to to a TV.

Battery

Ask any Xperia owner about battery life and you'll hear good things. But the Sony Xperia X comes with a sealed 2,620mAh battery. Is it enough? That's the same capacity as the Xperia M5 and actually a bit less than the Xperia Z5 Compact (2,700mAh).

Note that the Xperia X is the first phone to launch with a Qnovo battery. It supports fast charging (Quick Charge 2.0 in this case)), but the company behind it claims it has a longer life and will last hundreds of charge cycles more than a conventional Lithium battery (especially one that's being fast-charged). This means that a year or two after you buy it, the X will continue to offer solid battery life while an aged regular battery will not be able to hold much charge (and this is important for a phone with a sealed battery).

Additional improvements, including a new chipset, help the Endurance rating to a good 67 hours. Not the best we've seen (Z3 Compact was a wonder), but we think it's actually an improvement over the Xperia Z5.

It comes down to the testing procedure - we used to set the brightness slider to 50% (which for the Z5 meant a low 90nits), but now we test all phones at 200nits. The only test the Xperia X loses compared to the Z5 is the browser test, but we think at equal brightness the Z5's lead will shrink.

Sony's Stamina battery saving feature comes standard here. It has two modes: regular Stamina, and Ultra Stamina. The first disables non-essential features like GPS and vibration, and takes performance down a notch, but the Xperia does remain a smartphone.

Ultra Stamina is for absolutely dire occasions when you don't expect to be able to find a power outlet for a prolonged period of time. Enable that and it's back to basics where you get a single homescreen with access to the dialer and contacts, text messages, camera and clock.